A few things to be on the look out for when selecting a web hosting provider :
• What is the web host ’ s advertised uptime ? 99.9 percent uptime is the bare minimum you should accept .
• What is the quality of their customer support ? Submit a few queries and call their customer support team before handing over your money .
• How much storage space will you have ? Aim for a minimum 5 GB of storage space .
Be careful not to get hung up on choosing a hosting provider . At the end of the day , most shared hosting providers will be adequate for getting started . Once your site gets bigger and more popular , you might want to think about whether you ’ re happy with your hosting , but in most cases you won ’ t be able to tell the difference between providers .
If you ’ re nervous , opt for a month-to-month payment plan ( rather than buying for a whole year up front ) until you ’ re sure you ’ re happy . If you do decide you hate your host later on , you can move your site to a new host . Often your new host will be happy to help you migrate everything over .
For more information on web hosting , as well as how to register your hosting and link your domain name to it , look at the “ What to Look For in a Hosting Provider ” lesson .
Site Building with WordPress
WordPress is a content management system ( CMS ) that makes it easy for even the biggest technophobe to build and run a professional-looking website .
It ’ s essentially a software that you can install on your website that allows you to add content and change your website settings , all from a friendly admin panel ( rather than staring at screens of code ). WordPress is free , and it has a huge community behind it , so you ’ ll find a lot of tools and support to help you .
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